More at http://scifri.me/2ec7wx

In 2008, NASA Astronaut Don Pettit was on the space station, pondering a uniquely space-based problem: So many of Earth's basic cultural rituals—clinking glasses together, for example—just don't translate in near-zero gravity. "You can smash your juice bags together, but it doesn’t have the same human connection," he says.
 
Seven years later, the first gravity-defying coffee cups have arrived at the space station. Pettit describes their odd, curvy shape as the “kind of bulbous thing you might find on a rare orchid.” They work using capillary action: Simply press your lips to the rim, and you get a sip, whether you want one or not.

Pettit and his co-designer, mechanical engineer Mark Weislogel of Portland State University, join us to talk about this unique design challenge.

3D-Printed Coffee Cups Help Liquids Defy Gravity

Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

3D-Printed Coffee Cups Help Liquids Defy Gravity

SciFri

Related tracks